Pentagon Puts Cyberwarriors on the Offensive, Increasing the Risk of Conflict

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon has quietly empowered the United States Cyber Command to take a far more aggressive approach to defending the nation against cyberattacks, a shift in strategy that could increase the risk of conflict with the foreign states that sponsor malicious hacking groups.

Until now, the Cyber Command has assumed a largely defensive posture, trying to counter attackers as they enter American networks. In the relatively few instances when it has gone on the offensive, particularly in trying to disrupt the online activities of the Islamic State and its recruiters in the past several years, the results have been mixed at best.

FBI Warns U.S. Companies of Cyber Terror

The FBI is warning U.S. companies that cyber terrorists from the Middle East and North Africa are planning to conduct cyber attacks against Israeli and Jewish interests next week.

The Bureau stated in a security notice to U.S. industry on Sunday that, as of early March, “several extremist hacking groups indicated they would participate in a forthcoming operation, #OpIsrael, which will target Israeli and Jewish Web sites.”

Welcome to the Party–It’s About Time People Realized that the PLA is Engaged in Economic Warfare

People are SHOCKED to learn today that the PLA has been hacking corporations to steal trade secrets, learn negotiating strategies, and otherwise engage in activity that any normal person would call economic warfare. Never mind that it is straight from the PLA’s Unrestricted Warfare playbook as outlined in 1999. Never mind that it has been obvious to nearly every one else in the world. Sadly, Americans (including some of our political leadership) have been naively denying any possibility of such Chinese activity. They have clearly been ignoring reality to avoid having to admit what we know to be true.We are in a global economic war and are wholly unprepared to properly engage in it.